Books on Tap

Our June meeting at Jimmy's Pub to discuss Into Thin Air was another great discussion with the consensus being none of us want to be that miserable for that long! Summiting Mount Everest takes a lot of money, time and more risks than any of us is willing to take. For more information about Mount Everest and the controversy of the climbing industry, check out these links.

Outside Online - Take a Number

List of people who died climbing Mount Everest

National Geographic - Everest

Everest season ends on a high note

Join us July 9, 6:30pm at Jimmy's Pub to talk about This is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper. 

The death of Judd Foxman’s father marks the first time that the entire Foxman family—including Judd’s mother, brothers, and sister—have been together in years. Conspicuously absent: Judd’s wife, Jen, whose fourteen-month affair with Judd’s radio-shock-jock boss has recently become painfully public. 

Simultaneously mourning the death of his father and the demise of his marriage, Judd joins the rest of the Foxmans as they reluctantly submit to their patriarch’s dying request: to spend the seven days following the funeral together. In the same house. Like a family.

This Is Where I Leave You is Jonathan Tropper's most accomplished work to date, a riotously funny, emotionally raw novel about love, marriage, divorce, family, and the ties that bind—whether we like it or not.

Here's a list of what we'll be talking about this summer at Books on Tap. 

June 11 - Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer
July  9 - This is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper
August 13 - Manhunt by James L. Swanson

September 10 - The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers - This year's One Book, One Community selection.

We have new people drop in every month! So if you have been looking for a place to meet and discuss books, stop by Jimmy's Pub the 2nd Tuesday of the month.

Have a drink and join the discussion!

Tuesday night 17 people showed up at Jimmy's Pub for a lively discussion of Dog Stars by Peter Heller. While not everyone enjoyed the book as much as I did, people pointed out and discussed the parts of the book that spoke to them.

For more information about the book or the author visit www.peterheller.net.

Enjoy apocalytic fiction? Try some of these titles!

Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank
A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller
I Am Legend by Richard Matheson
The Passage by Justin Cronin
The Postman by David Brin
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
The Stand by Stephen King
World War Z by Max Brooks
The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood

Feel free to post any of your own favorites!

Join us May 14 at 6:30pm when we will discuss The Dog Stars by Peter Heller. Books On Tap meets at Jimmy's Pub the 2nd Tuesday of the month.

Join us April 9 at 6:30pm when we will discuss Arc of Justice by Kevin Boyle. Books on Tap meets at Jimmy's Pub, located at 16804 Chadler Road.

An electrifying story of the sensational murder trial that divided a city and ignited the civil rights struggle.

In 1925, Detroit was a smoky swirl of jazz and speakeasies, assembly lines and fistfights. The advent of automobiles had brought workers from around the globe to compete for manufacturing jobs, and tensions often flared with the KKK in ascendance and violence rising. Ossian Sweet, a proud Negro doctor-grandson of a slave-had made the long climb from the ghetto to a home of his own in a previously all-white neighborhood. Yet just after his arrival, a mob gathered outside his house; suddenly, shots rang out: Sweet, or one of his defenders, had accidentally killed one of the whites threatening their lives and homes.

And so it began-a chain of events that brought America's greatest attorney, Clarence Darrow, into the fray and transformed Sweet into a controversial symbol of equality. Historian Kevin Boyle weaves the police investigation and courtroom drama of Sweet's murder trial into an unforgettable tapestry of narrative history that documents the volatile America of the 1920s and movingly re-creates the Sweet family's journey from slavery through the Great Migration to the middle class. Ossian Sweet's story, so richly and poignantly captured here, is an epic tale of one man trapped by the battles of his era's changing times.

Arc of Justice is the winner of the 2004 National Book Award for Nonfiction and a Michigan Notable Book for 2005.

Looking ahead:
May 14, The Dog Stars by Peter Heller

Join us March 12 at 6:30pm when we will discuss Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. Books on Tap meets at Jimmy's Pub, located at 16804 Chandler Road.

On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy Dunne’s fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick’s clever and beautiful wife disappears from their rented McMansion on the Mississippi River. Husband-of-the-Year Nick isn’t doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams about the slope and shape of his wife’s head, but passages from Amy's diary reveal the alpha-girl perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media—as well as Amy’s fiercely doting parents—the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he’s definitely bitter—but is he really a killer?
With his twin sister, Margo, at his side, Nick stands by his innocence. Trouble is, if Nick didn’t do it, where is that beautiful wife? And what was in that silvery gift box hidden in the back of her bedroom closet?
With her razor-sharp writing and trademark psychological insight, Gillian Flynn delivers a fast-paced, devilishly dark, and ingeniously plotted thriller that confirms her status as one of the hottest writers around.

Looking ahead:
April 9, Arc of Justice by Kevin Boyle

The following titles were the most popular book group picks in January based on votes at Bookmovement.com.

On February 12, Books On Tap will meet to discuss the book Wild by Cheryl Strayed.

Wild traces the personal crisis the author endured after the death of her mother and a painful divorce, which prompted her to undertake a dangerous 1,100-mile hike that both drove her to rock bottom and helped her to heal.

The Better Living Book Club will join us at Jimmy's Pub for this special discussion which will include guest speaker, Karrie Korroch. Karrie has hiked the Appalachian Trail and will share some of her experiences from the trail.

Looking ahead to what we will be discussing in March and April.
March 12 - Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
April 9 - Arc of Justice by Kevin Boyle

Tonight, I will have the honor of talking with two book clubs about my beloved time spent hiking the Appalachian Trail! When I hiked the trail, it was 2,164 miles long. It's stretched a little longer now, but it was long enough then! 1998 seems like a long time ago most days, but my memories of the trail are crystal clear. It made a huge impression on me and I have carried it with me in my heart every day since I last set foot on it. When I read Cheryl Strayed's book Wild, it brought back so many feelings and thoughts about my own long distance solo hike. I laughed and cried along with her and often knew exactly what she was talking about. I don't think I've ever read a book that had so many torn little bits of paper marking so many pages by the time I read the last sentence. Although our reasons for setting off on our long solo journeys were quite different, they were also very much the same. I am so excited to talk with everyone at the East Lansing Public Library's combined meeting of the Better Living Book Club and Books on Tap at Jimmy's Pub from 6:30-8 pm tonight! If you haven't read Wild yet, you still have time! You are also welcome to attend if you're still reading (we'll try not to spoil anything)! If you want to know more about these and other awesome book clubs, visit elpl.org! No registration required.

Join us March 12 at 6:30pm when we will discuss Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn.

On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy Dunne’s fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick’s clever and beautiful wife disappears from their rented McMansion on the Mississippi River. Husband-of-the-Year Nick isn’t doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams about the slope and shape of his wife’s head, but passages from Amy's diary reveal the alpha-girl perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media—as well as Amy’s fiercely doting parents—the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he’s definitely bitter—but is he really a killer?
With his twin sister, Margo, at his side, Nick stands by his innocence. Trouble is, if Nick didn’t do it, where is that beautiful wife? And what was in that silvery gift box hidden in the back of her bedroom closet?
With her razor-sharp writing and trademark psychological insight, Gillian Flynn delivers a fast-paced, devilishly dark, and ingeniously plotted thriller that confirms her status as one of the hottest writers around.

Looking ahead:
April 9, Arc of Justice by Kevin Boyle

Tonight, I will have the honor of talking with two book clubs about my beloved time spent hiking the Appalachian Trail! When I hiked the trail, it was 2,164 miles long. It's stretched a little longer now, but it was long enough then! 1998 seems like a long time ago most days, but my memories of the trail are crystal clear. It made a huge impression on me and I have carried it with me in my heart every day since I last set foot on it. When I read Cheryl Strayed's book Wild, it brought back so many feelings and thoughts about my own long distance solo hike. I laughed and cried along with her and often knew exactly what she was talking about. I don't think I've ever read a book that had so many torn little bits of paper marking so many pages by the time I read the last sentence. Although our reasons for setting off on our long solo journeys were quite different, they were also very much the same. I am so excited to talk with everyone at the East Lansing Public Library's combined meeting of the Better Living Book Club and Books on Tap at Jimmy's Pub from 6:30-8 pm tonight! If you haven't read Wild yet, you still have time! You are also welcome to attend if you're still reading (we'll try not to spoil anything)! If you want to know more about these and other awesome book clubs, visit elpl.org! No registration required.

On February 12, Books On Tap will meet to discuss the book Wild by Cheryl Strayed.

Wild traces the personal crisis the author endured after the death of her mother and a painful divorce, which prompted her to undertake a dangerous 1,100-mile hike that both drove her to rock bottom and helped her to heal.

The Better Living Book Club will join us at Jimmy's Pub for this special discussion which will include guest speaker, Karrie Korroch. Karrie has hiked the Appalachian Trail and will share some of her experiences from the trail.

Looking ahead to what we will be discussing in March and April.
March 12 - Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
April 9 - Arc of Justice by Kevin Boyle